debates

Cards (50)

  • What is the nature-nurture debate?

    the arguments concerning whether psychological characteristics are biologically innate or learned through education, experience, environment and culture
  • Explain the nature debate?
    adopts a deterministic view that all behavior is due to biology/hereditary factors and so are present at conception. genes provide the blue print of all behaviours
  • Explain the nurture debate?
    we are a blank state at birth and waiting to be filled by experiences gained by environmental interaction. deterministic view as says all behaviour is a result of interactions (learning and observing)
  • Which studies/ areas support the nature debate?
    Areas:
    biological
    cognitive

    Studies:
    maguire, Casey, Blackmore, sperry and grant
  • Which studies/ areas support the nurture debate?
    Areas:
    social
    behaviourist

    Studies:
    milgram, levine, piliavin, bocchiaro
  • What are the strengths and weaknesses of the nature debate?
    +:
    scientific
    use of objective measures
    useful (drug treatments)
    -:
    reductionist
    deterministic
  • What are the strengths and weaknesses of the nurture debate?
    +:
    high ecological valid research
    highly valid and replicable research
    useful (social interventions)
    -:
    reductionist
    deterministic
  • Where do all the areas/ perspectives lie on the nature-nurture debate?
    more nurture:
    social- all behaviour caused by the perceived or actual presence of others in a environment
    behaviourist- all behaviour is learnt and acquired through experience

    middle:
    I.D- everyone is unique and many factors contribute to behaviour
    psychodynamic- behaviour is driven by unconscious desires and conflict between diff parts of personality
    developmental-behaviour is caused by progression through stages of development which are innate but also learnt

    more nature:
    biological-assumes behaviour is caused by psychological processes such as brain function and hormones
    cognitive-all behaviour is caused by cognition and processes in the mind
  • What is the reductionism v.s holism debate?
    the arguments concerned with the reductionist approach that breaks behaviour down to its constituent parts and uses a single explanation to define behaviour or the holistic approach that sees behaviour as complex and so humans are whole and so interactions between all aspects of an individual are considered
  • Explain the reductionist debate?

    breaks human behaviour down into individual parts such as their biology or social experiences or their thought processes
    is an experimental approach (IV and DV)
  • Explain the holistic debate?

    focuses on individual as a whole, their biology and their experiences and their thoughts. these factors cannot be isolated because they interact together
  • What studies/ areas support the reductionist approach?
    areas:
    biological
    social
    cognitive

    studies:
    bandura, milgram and moray
  • What studies/ areas support the holistic approach?
    Areas:
    individual differences
    behaviourist
    psychodynamic

    studies:
    freud, baron Cohen
  • What are the strength and weaknesses of the reductionist approach?
    +:
    able to measure behaviours more scientifically and so can establish causal relationships
    if can define behaviour can provide treatments e.g low serotonin levels for depression
    -:
    ignore complex interactions
    do not explain i.d
  • What are the strength and weaknesses of the holistic approach?
    +:
    better reflect human behaviour
    specialised treatments
    -:
    cannot be tested scientifically
  • What is the determinism- free will debate?

    this debate either explains behaviour due to a lack of control such as genes and past experiences or as we are entirely free to chose our own behaviours and we bear full responsibility for our actions
  • Explain the deterministic debate?

    suggests that free will is an illusion and that even though we may feel like we make our own choices these are determined by outside forces
  • Explain the free will debate?
    suggest that we completely free to chose our own behaviours and the choice is uninfluenced
  • What studies/ areas support the deterministic debate?
    areas:
    developmental
    biological
    cognitive
    behaviorist

    studies:
    milgram
    grant
    bandura
    freud
    Casey
    milgram
  • What studies/ areas support the free will debate?
    areas:
    social

    studies:
    pilivan, levine
  • What are the strengths and weaknesses of the deterministic debate?
    +:
    interventions to prevent behaviour
    cause and effect relationships
    supports psychology as a science
    -:
    lacks responsibility
    reductionist
  • What are the strengths and weaknesses of the free will debate?
    +:
    accountability
    -:
    labelling
    lack of treatments
  • What is the individual- situational debate?
    the debate explains behaviour as either due to an individuals personality or disposition and their biology or explains behaviour down to circumstance or surroundings
  • Explain the individual debate?
    person Is responsible for their own behaviour and behaviour is the same regardless of the situation.
    dispositional aggression
  • Explain the situational debate?

    person is not held responsible for their own behaviour and they will behave different in different situations
  • Which studies/ areas support the individual debate?
    areas:
    biological
    psychodynamic
    I.D

    studies:
    maguire, Blackmore and Cooper, freud
  • Which studies/ areas support the situational debate?
    areas:
    social
    cognitive

    studies:
    milgram, lofts and palmer
  • What are the strength and weaknesses of the individual debate?
    +:
    useful as they allow for tailored treatments
    -:
    reductionist
    difficult to provide treatments
  • What are the strength and weaknesses of the situational debate?
    +:
    useful as allows for easy interventions/ treatments
    -:
    deterministic
  • What is the psychology as a science debate?
    extent to which psychology can be seen as a science by demonstrating things such as replicability, cause and effect, objectivity and high controll.
  • What is cause and effect?
    -Cause and effect: a causal link between two variables that shows a change in one corresponds to a change in the other
  • What is falsifiability?
    -falsifiability: be able to disprove a hypothesis or theory as well as being able to support it
  • What is objectivity?
    -objectivity: taking an unbiased External perspective there is not affected by an individual person point of view so should be consistent in between researchers example FMRI scans
  • What is replicatbility?
    -replicability: being able to repeat the original research in the exact same way and get similar results
  • What is induction?
    A scientific method they uses research to generate testable hypotheses which are developed into theories is done by creating hypotheses then testing then make a theory
  • What is deduction?

    A scientific method that first develops theories then develops hypotheses from theories to test
  • What is hypothesis testing?
    Scientific evidence is gathered by demonstrating objectively that testable statement is either supported or not supported by the results
  • What is the manipulation of variables?
    To test a hypothesis in a valid way and reliable way the IV must be clearly operationalised
  • What are quantifiable measures?
    DV must be measured in numerical objective way so any changes them can be carefully measured
  • What is the control of variables?
    This is essential so that extraneous variables cannot account for changes in the DV which would make any apparent effect of the IV invalid